Duncan's 1,000th game brings 707th win

Only Pippen had more victories in first 1,000 games.

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, December 12, 2010

As milestones go, it was one Tim Duncan would have preferred to pass without comment.

Knowing Sunday's game against the Trail Blazers was the 1,000th NBA regular season game of his career only made a 34-year-old feel older.

“I was not aware,” he said after scoring eight points and pulling down 13 rebounds in just 28 minutes and 11 seconds at the AT&T Center. “I would rather not be told that. I've played for a long time, and I'm getting really old. I wish I'd only played 10 (games) and still have 1,000 more in front of me.”

Duncan became the 94th player in league history to play 1,000 games, and only Scottie Pippen won more of his first 1,000 games than Duncan's 707. Pippen went 715-285 in that span, all with the Bulls.

Sundays' game was a bit of a milestone of another sort for Duncan: The first time in the Spurs' last four games that he played in the fourth quarter. With big leads in each of the last four, Duncan's presence hasn't really been required, and the Spurs were ahead by 14 when Duncan replaced Matt Bonner with 5:50 remaining in the game.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he did not send Duncan back into the game in the fourth. Rather, Duncan inserted himself.

“I think his philosophy this year isn't to play me in the fourth quarter at all, whether we are winning, or what,” Duncan said. “I think he thinks the team is better without me out there. I just try to disprove him at such point.”

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Popovich has been trying to minimize Duncan's regular season playing time for several seasons and is succeeding this season beyond his fondest hopes. The Spurs captain is averaging a career-low 28.8 minutes per game. He has played more than 30 minutes only five times in the past 13 games.

Parker's sprained finger: The middle finger on point guard Tony Parker's right hand was noticeably swollen after Sunday's game, and Parker acknowledged that he sprained it one week ago when the Spurs defeated the New Orleans Hornets on Dec. 5.

“It sucks, because I don't really have a feel,” Parker said. “Every time somebody hits it, it hurts. It's been two or three games. Just have to deal with it.”

Parker said X-rays taken a week ago showed no fracture and that he intends to play through the pain.

“No time off,” he said. “Keep playing. Maybe I'll play with a (splint). I'm not a big fan of that, so we'll see.”

Bragging rights: New Hampshire native Matt Bonner, a major fan of the New England Patriots, said Duncan's status as team captain and future Hall of Famer will not exclude him from a week's worth of trash talk about the Patriots' 36-7 thrashing of Duncan's beloved Chicago Bears.

“When my NFL team is beating his NFL team that bad,” Bonner said, “he doesn't have a leg to stand on.”